10 Must Read Anti-Bullying Books for Everyone

Getting ready for the upcoming school year is already on many minds this month, so we thought it would be a good time to talk about anti-bullying books. While we are thinking of the new clothing and back to school supplies we may need, another important thing we can do is to prepare our children to be against bullying. The books below will help parents, teachers, and children learn how to identify bullying and what steps can be taken for prevention. You will also find fiction books below for children and families to read together that open doors for bullying discussion.

Anti-Bullying books to read before going back to school

Bullying Hurts is not your same-old anti-bullying guide. Lester Laminack and Reba Wadsworth show how the read aloud, a familiar and proven instructional technique, can be used as a powerful way to neutralize bullying behaviors, create community in the classroom, and help you meet the Common Core State Standards at the same time.

In preschool, children encounter their first experiences in forming and joining social groups outside their family. It is natural for them to experiment with social interactions while learning about their world. In this guide, teasing and bullying are addressed as a continuum of intentionally hurtful behavior, from making fun of someone to repetitive physical abuse. Creating a caring environment at the beginning of school reduces the need for children to assert themselves through negative behavior such as teasing and bullying. With The Anti-Bullying and Teasing Book, teachers of young children can address this behavior before it develops.

Vicious words and damaging photos exchanged through texts, email, or social media can result in humiliation, broken friendships, punishment at school, and even legal prosecution. In some cases, online harassment has contributed to suicide. Written by experts in cyberbullying prevention, this book provides strategies for teens dealing with cyberbullying as well as for those who have taken part in bullying others. The book gives teens the tools they need to keep themselves safe online, protect their digital reputations, and make their schools and their communities kinder places. Includes true stories by teens who have been cyberbullied and are working to eliminate online bullying in their schools.

The mother of a bullied first grader, popular blogger Carrie Goldman’s inspiring true story triggered an outpouring of support from online communities around the world. In Bullied, she gives us a guide to the crucial lessons and actionable guidance she’s learned about how to stop bullying before it starts. It is a book born from Goldman’s post about the ridicule her daughter suffered for bringing a Star Wars thermos to school—a story that went viral on Facebook and Twitter before exploding everywhere, from CNN.com and Yahoo.com to sites all around the world. Written in Goldman’s warm, engaging style, Bullied is an important and very necessary read for parents, educators, self-professed “Girl Geeks,” or anyone who has ever felt victimized by a bully, online or in person.

A companion book to the acclaimed documentary film that inspired a national conversation, BULLY is packed with information and resources for teachers, parents, and anyone who cares about the more than 13 million children who will be bullied in the United States this year. From commentary about life after BULLY by the filmmakers and the families in the film, to the story of how Katy Butler’s petition campaign helped defeat the MPAA’s “R” rating, BULLY takes the story of the film beyond the closing credits. Celebrity contributions combine with essays from experts, authors, government officials, and educators to offer powerful insights and concrete steps to take, making the book an essential part of an action plan to combat the bullying epidemic in America.

“This is a lovely and much needed book that provides an opportunity to open the conversation regarding bullying with our youngest children. In a ‘question and brainstorm answers’ format, Ms. Kempner’s book will enable families to identify specific episodes of bullying that can occur in preschool and elementary school age children. Once identified, the readers are asked to think of alternative ways to handle the situations in which bullying can, but doesn’t have to, occur.” —Susan D. Boulware, M.D, Assistant Clinical Professor in Pediatrics, Yale Medical University

When Sister Bear gets beaten up by Tuffy, the new cub in town, Brother huffs off to set this bully straight. But he’s in for a surprise–Tuffy’s a little girl, and Brother just can’t bring himself to fight her.

Have you ever seen a bully in action and done nothing about it? The kids at Pete’s new school get involved, instead of being bystanders. When Pete begins to behave badly, his classmates teach him about “The Promise”. Will Pete decide to shed his bullying habits and make “The Promise”?

When Jake was three years old at Miss Lulu’s Dainty Diaper Day Care Center, what did he know about bullies? Nothing. But he learned fast! Why? Because Jake was kind of smart and not a tattletale, and he had no big brother to protect him. He was a perfect bully magnet.

But everything changed the year Jake was in second grade. That’s when SuperBully Link Baxter moved to town. Jake had his hands full just trying to survive, until class project time. Who did the teacher assign to be Link’s partner? You guessed it.

Jake has to use all his smarts — and his heart as well — to turn himself from Jake Drake, Bully Magnet, to Jake Drake, Bully Buster.

Chrissa’s had a good summer, practicing for swim team tryouts. Then her world is shaken when she and her friends get mean text messages and there’s an accident at the pool. Can one girl put an end to the bullying?

After Katie gets caught teasing a schoolmate, she’s told to meet with Mrs. Petrowski, the school counselor, so she can make right her wrong and learn to be a better friend. Bothered at first, it doesn’t take long before Katie realizes that bullying has hurt not only the people around her, but her, too. Told from the unusual point of view of the bullier rather than the bullied, Confessions of a Former Bully provides kids with real life tools they can use to identify and stop relational aggression. (Age Range: 8-12)

Pigs aren’t “little” Yet the Big Bad Wolf insists on calling our pig friends “little” because he thinks they’re fat. Now as far as pigs go, their size is perfectly normal but compared to the other kids at school, their size makes them different.

With more than 30 pages of beautiful illustrations, we’ve weaved story elements in to our reimagined tale to help parents and their children have a conversation about empathy, teasing and bullying. On appropriate pages, parents can tap a special icon that provides suggestions they can use to turn the scene into a teachable moment.

Who has the most power to stop and prevent bullying? Teachers? Parents? The Principal of the Universe? No, no, and no way! When it comes to changing bullying behavior, nobody has more power than bystanders—all the people who see bullying or know about it . . . but do nothing. How strong are bystanders? Stronger than a snarling seventh grader. More powerful than a petty put-down. Able to delete Internet rumors with a single click. When BYstanders choose to act as UPstanders, they are real superheroes! With full-color cartoons and humorous, kid-friendly text, Bystander Power teaches kids how to safely stand up against bullying, support kids who are targeted, and spread the word that bullying is not cool—it’s cruel. The power to end bullying starts with one person: you. (Age Range: 8-13)

This Love & Fleece ‘Happy-Not-Cranky’ Cuddle Buddiespicture book invites readers to follow along with Penelope Panda on her way to school. Once there, she finds out it isn’t always easy to make new friends – especially when the new kid at school is being a bully! Thankfully this smart little panda saves the day by remembering what her Papa says about spreading the happy and not the cranky. Picture book for early readers.

About Victoria C

Victoria is a cloth diapering, baby wearing, mom of three boys and three girls! She has been blogging about parenting, recipes, and her favorite products for the past four years - an loves every minute of it!

Comments

Thanks for sharing! I’m glad there are books that show the perspective of the bully as well as the victim. Too often we forget that bullying behavior can come from a place of pain or confusion and those children need help just as much as–or even more than– the victims of bullying.

As a psychologist with many years experience, helping children and adults I know that we can teach children how to block bullies in one or two sessions and then given them the best social skills to improve their friendships. Sadly, children who cant’ block bullies, can’t develop friendships based upon mutual respect.

Good list of resources. Some level of bullying is a fact of life but and an unfortunate part of growing up. But these days it can easily go too far. You can go from just being mean kids to doing something illegal or something that will permanently hurt someone (physically or mentally) way to easily.

I somehow found ways to cope up with bullying in school. But I am afraid for my son and my nieces if they will ever learn. Bullying is becoming more and more aggressive nowadays. thank you for these books. we hope to learn a lot from them

Thanks for sharing this great list of anti-bullying books. Bullying is such a huge issue and needs to be addressed. My daughter was bullied most of last year and she ended up with a broken arm because of it. I am always teaching my kids not to bully and to always stop bullying when they see it happening.

I love the wide variety of books on bullying. It’s such an important topic as I remember it happened to me distinctly in 6th grade. So much to talk about but at different levels……..it’s a lot different in elementary school than middle school.

As a former therapist, I also see the other side of bullying where as people always think the bully is the problem, but there is something at the root of the bullying behavior and the child isn’t necessarily “bad” and often people make bullies out to be “bad”. The behaviors need to be addressed and changed but there needs to be a deeper level of understanding too.